.

Q. 16. Have you found any lime or chalk stone?

Ans. None.

Q. 17. Have you been supplied with fish?

Ans. Fish in great numbers, and of a large size, abound all
round the island. Some turtle were caught soon after I landed,
but the approach of cold weather drove them off. I have not been
able to send the boat off so often as I wished, not having men to
row, but when she has gone out, a plentiful supply of fish has
been obtained.

* * *

At sun-rise on the 12th of August, we hoisted the colours, in
observance of the birth-day of his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales; and the same day a rood and an half of ground was sown
with a peck of seed wheat, which I received by the Supply.

From this time till the 17th, every person was employed in
clearing a piece of ground to sow the remainder of the seed
wheat, which was brought by the Supply; and this being completed,
I sent the labourers to clear away, turn up, and plant half an
acre of ground in Arthur's Vale, with Indian corn.

The frequent accidents which had happened to boats here, made
me anxious to search for a better landing place, or a place where
landing might be practicable, when the surf ran too high to land
in Sydney-Bay; and Lieutenant Ball having mentioned one as likely
in Cascade-Bay, on the north side of the island, I set out at
day-light in the morning, taking three men along with me, in
search of it; proposing, at the same time, to examine Ball-Bay in
my road. I left the surgeon commanding officer at the settlement,
and I cannot help testifying the great satisfaction I felt at
having a person of his character, to superintend the work in my
absence, and his steadiness and general knowledge, made him a
valuable associate. After climbing and descending a number of
steep hills, and cutting our way through the thick woods which
covered some small plains, we arrived at a gully to the westward
of Ball-Bay, about eleven o'clock; from whence we walked round to
the bay by the sea-shore, it being low water.

The distance between the two points of Ball-Bay is about a
mile and a half; it goes in west-north-west, and is nearly a mile
deep. At the distance of two hundred yards from the shore, the
bay is entirely surrounded with steep hills, except in the
center, where there is a valley, down which, a stream of fresh
water runs, and empties itself on the beach. The sides of these
hills are cloathed with pines and the flax-plant; the beach is
covered with